By Dave Fidlin
As discussion of Whitewater’s 2015 municipal budget heats up, city officials are eyeing some of the capital improvement projects that are in progress and planned in the road ahead.
City Manager Cameron Clapper on June 17 discussed with the Common Council the city’s 5-year plan to address a range of issues, including roadwork, equipment upgrades and building enhancements.
“The purpose of this discussion is three-fold,” Clapper said during the recent discussion with council members.
While the report was an opportunity to check in and update the council on the status of this year’s CIP work, it also was a means of looking at what work could be coming down the pike in future years.
Lastly, the CIP discussion is being used as an opportunity to gather input from the council on any tweaks to the existing schedule. Clapper described the future plan as “a working document.”
Year-to-date, several amendments have been made to the city’s 2014 CIP plan, particularly with a list of upgrades at such city-owned facilities as the municipal building, Armory, White Memorial Building and Cravath Lakefront Community Center.
The city had earmarked $295,000 in its budget to address public facility improvements this year, but a report from consulting firm Velcheck & Finger revealed about $1.52 million worth of work should be undertaken.
The majority of the work identified by Velcheck & Finger will be spread out in the years ahead. Case in point: repairs to a community building at Starin Park have been moved from the 2014 to 2015 budget and increased from $15,000 to $40,000 to accommodate Velcheck & Finger’s recommendations.
In some cases, budgeted dollar figures have decreased as concrete projections have come to light. For example, installing a splash pad – a line item in this year’s budget – dropped from $156,000 to $116,000.
Further discussion of CIP work is anticipated at future council meetings.
